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The National Death Penalty Archive in the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives continues to expand. Last month, over 80 cubic feet of records from Abe Bonowitz, Bill Pelke, Bill Babbitt, and Michael Mello were transferred to the Department of Special Collections and Archives. Bonowitz of Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Pelke of Journey of Hope...From Violence to Healing, and Charlie Lanier of the Capital Punishment Research Initiative even braved one of the hottest days of the summer in August to bring more records to UAlbany! You can read Abe's account of the trip and his encouragement to others to consider transferring their records to the National Death Penalty Archive here.

Just in time for the anniversary of his receipt of the New School Graduate Faculty Founders Medal on September 25th, the Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives is pleased to announce that the finding aid for the papers of Arnold Brecht is now available. Brecht was a Prussian official who was dismissed after defying Hitler in the last free speech in the German parliament. He was a professor of political science, public finance, and international law at the New School for Social Research. His principal work was Political Theory (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1959). The collection is primarily copies of original documents including letters and printed materials housed at the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz, Germany and is divided into six series: 1) Biographical and autobiographical materials, family documents, 1865-1974; 2) Correspondence, 1905-1976; 3) Writings of Arnold Brecht, 1904-1976; 4) Course and lecture notes, notes and clippings on various lecture...

On Sunday, October 1st, Albany's bard, novelist William Kennedy, and local historian and State Assemblyman John McEneny will discuss the historic districts, people, and events that figure so prominently in Kennedy's work. I have heard Kennedy and McEneny speak on several occassions and both usually offer interesting as well as personal accounts of the city of Albany. The event begins at 1p.m. at the Albany Institute of History and Art and will continue with a self-guided walking tour of Albany's South End. The Department of Special Collections and Archives is the repository of the papers of William Kennedy, which are available to the public. The Department also holds many other collections related to the history of the South End and Albany.

The Marcia Brown Research Room will be closed on Tuesday, September 18th from 4-7p.m. while a class is in session. Research assistance will be available in room 351 in the Department of Special Collections and Archives during this time.

In September 1931, the Edward E. Potter Club was formed "to keep alive the friendships made in undergraduate days, to promote the interests of State College by interesting men of character in the teaching profession, to maintain a high social standard among the men at State College, to cooperate more fully with the Alumnae Association, to keep our selves educationally alert." The Club promoted high educational and behavioral standards for the young men attending the New York State College for Teachers (as the University at Albany was then known) and encouraged its members as individuals and as a group to participate in service-related activities.

The Department is continuously arranging and describing manuscript and archival collections and adding the finding aids and inventories that are created to the Department’s Website. Some of the finding aids from the Archives of Public Affairs and Policy added in the last month include:

In September 1941, Sayles Hall was opened as a men's dormitory with accomodations for 134 students. The dormitory also contained a billiard room, gymnasium, and dining hall. Sayles Hall had been dedicated and formally named on Alumni Weekend, June 14, 1941. Purchase of the land and the construction of the building was funded by donations to the Alumni Association, which voted to name the building for then Acting President John M. Sayles, in recognition of his many years of service to the Association. John M. Sayles</img> As the long time chairman of the Alumni Association's funding arm, the Dormitory Committee of the Benevolent Association, Sayles, with Anna E. Pierce, is widely credited with successfully guiding the fund-raising campaign that purchased the land comprising Alumni Quadrangle and built the first two dormitories on the site, Pierce and Sayles Halls.

The Dewey Graduate Library is located in Hawley Hall on the Downtown Campus of the University at Albany and has had several names during its incarnation as a library, including the Hawley Library. Gideon Hawley </img> Gideon Hawley (1785-1870), is widely known as the creator of the common or public elementary schools in New York. He served as the first superintendent of the common schools in New York (1812-1821). As a member of the Regents (1842-70), Hawley is credited with helping to establish the New York State Normal School (as the University at Albany was then known). Hawley served as a member of the State Normal School’s first Executive Committee (1844-1852) which helped to win permanent state funding for the new school.

The exhibit Edward Durell Stone and the Building of the Uptown Campus, 1961-1971 is on display near the entrance of the University Library. It includes items drawn from the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives' University Archives and book collections about the Edward Durell Stone designed Uptown Campus of the University at Albany, SUNY. The physical exhibit will be on display in the University Library through December 2006 and an expanded version will be unveiled in January 2007 in the Science Library. For questions regarding the exhibit, contact Geoffrey Williams at 437-3935 or gwilliams@uamail.albany.edu.

Both people who just happen to be passing by and researchers who have used the Department's collections many times often ask "Just who is this M.E. Grenander?" and "What connection does Marcia Brown have to the University at Albany?" Now you know. The Department of Special Collections and Archives holds the collections of both women and information in addition to what is on each of the above webpages is available. You only need to ask.